Writing guide



M. FARROW WRITING GUIDE Dec. 23, 1941.

Filed June 23, 1941 1 vuc nkvo LOUISE MAE FARRow gllommr,

Patented Dec.v 23, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFKZE WRITING GUIDE Louise Mae Farrow, West Palm Beach, Fla. Application June 23, 1941, Serial No. 399,351

6 Claims.

This invention relates in general to geometrical instruments and more particularly has reference to a deviceto aid the blind in handwriting and to aid others in writing and reading.

Anumber of. devices have been developed for use as line .guides and to assist blind persons in writing in straight lines. Most of the devices developed heretofore, however, have been very cumbersome and quite often so expensive that most persons had to do without them. Other simpler devices have been devised but were found to be impractical.

An object of this invention is to provide a simple device to assist blind. persons in writing.

Another object of this invention is to provide a geometrical instrument in the form of a writing guide to facilitate writing on unlined paper.

A further object of this invention is to provide a writing guide having an edge displaceable by a writinginstrument to permit the scribing of letters having portions projecting below the guide edge.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a writing guide formed of a pair of bars secured at one end and detachably connected together at their other ends to facilitate the insertion of a sheet of paper or tablet between them.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a writing guide formed of a pair of bars secured at one end and detachably connected toether at their other ends to facilitate the insertion of a sheet of paper or tablet between them, anda paper engaging member secured to said bars to guide said bars relative to the edge of the p A still further object of this invention is to provide a writing guide formed of a pair of bars secured at one end and detachably connected together at their other ends to facilitate the insertion of a sheet of paper or tablet between them, and a paper engaging member secured to said bars to guide said bars relative to the edge of the paper, at least one of said bars having a writing-guide edge of soft material to permit the displacement of said edge by a writing instrument, to enable thescribing of letters having portions extending below the guide edge.

With these and other important objects in view, which may be incident to my improvements,

the invention resides in the parts and combinations to be hereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that the several necessary elements comprising myinvention may be varied in construction, proportions and arrangetical effect without limiting the improvements in their useful applications to the particular constructions which, for the purposes of explanation, have been made the subject of illustration.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a writing guide constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3--3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is another perspective view illustrating a modified form of the writing guide.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown in Fig. 1 a device embodying the concept of the present invention. .This device includes some of the features of a T-square in that it comprises a stock or paper. side edge engaging member I positioned between two bars 2 and 3. These bars 2 and 3 which serve as the writing guide bars are secured to the member I by being fitted into recesses or-mortises formed in the upper and lower surfaces of said member I and attached thereto by a rivet 4 or other suitable attaching means. This manner of securing the bars 2 and 3 to the member I is clearly evident from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 3, and insures a rigid construction.

Adjacent the endsof the writing guide bars 2 and 3 most remotefrom member I, a snap fasteneris provided having a stud carrying part 5 securely mounted in a suitable Opening formed in the upper bar 2 and a stud receiving part 6 securely mounted in a suitable opening formed in the lower bar 3. By providing cooperating snap fastener parts on the bars 2 and 3 the latter may be detachably secured together by the snap fastener. This is .very desirable and advantageous in the useof the device, particularly by blind persons.

' In practice the device may be constructed of anysuitable material, such as wood, metal, paper, synthetic resinsand like substances customarily employed in the ,making of. rulers and other geometrical instruments... It is preferable that bars 2 and 3 be flexible to facilitate the mounting of the device on a sheet or group of sheets of paper or on a common writing tablet. The bars 2 and 3 should be of a length to accommodate the largest of the standard widths of stationery and should be spaced apart at the member l a distance sufficient to accommodate several sheets of Writing paper. Member I should be two or three inches more or less in length to enable the-device to be held in proper position-relative to the edge of the paper. I f

It will be noted that the bars 2 and 3 project a short distance beyond member I (to the right of member I in Fig. 1) to facilitate handling of the device.

In use the snap fastener parts are separated and the lower bar 3 is slid under the sheet or several sheets of stationery of a writing tablet 1 until the member I engages the right side edge of the tablet and before or after sliding the device toward the desired position relative to the top of the paper, the snap fastener parts are snapped together. The device thus frictionally grips the sheet or sheets of paper between the bars 2 and 3 and serves to retain the device in position. The thickness of the paper between the bars 2 and 3 may vary without affecting the operation of the device but the thickness of paper should'be selected by taking the proper number of sheets to provide a tight enough frictional engagement to maintain thedevice in position but not so many as would prevent sliding of the device from top to bottom of the paper during the course of writing.

It has been found advantageous to space the bars 2 and 3 so that the device may be used with a single sheet of paper'on the usual cardboard backing of a writing tablet.

While the device may be mounted on the paper with the member I against either the left or right side edges of the paper, it is of advantage to blind persons to assemble the device asshown in Fig. 1 with the member I against the right edge of the paper as the'member I then also,

serves as a guide to enable the writer to determine when he is approaching the right side of the paper.

A modified form of this invention is shown in Figs. 4 and 5 which is advantageous in that it enables the writer to bring the writing instrument into engagement with the upper edge of the guide to form the lower parts of all letters written above the line and to displace the writing instrument below the line to form letters such as f, g, a, p, q, and 2. As shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the upper bar 2 of the device of Figs. 1 to 4 has a thin strip 8 of rubber or other resilient material secured thereto and extending laterally on each side of the bar 2. Strip 8 is thinned at its edges to enable a writing instrument to deform th edge. If desired, the edges of the strip 8 may be rendered even more easily deformable by slitting the same to provide a plurality of slits 9. These slits may be spaced apart a definite distance equal to units or fractions of units of measure which will be useful to all persons using the device whether they can see or not for measuring purposes.

The edge of the strip 8 may be rather thin to permit penetration of the writing instrument in forming parts of letters extending below the line as a person does not require a very rigid guide in writing because even the slightest restriction to movement of the writing instrument can be detected by the writer, particularly blind persons whose sense of touch is much sharper.

The strip 8 if formed of rubber may be vulcanized or cemented or otherwise secured to the bar 2.

The devices herein described are very useful,-

and in view or their simplicity and low cost of manufacture will be readily accessible to all.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein set forth by way of illustration as it is apparent that many changes and variations may be made therein by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A writing guide comprising a stock member for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, and snap fastening elements carried by said bars for detachably securing together the ends of said bars most remote from the stock.

2. A writing guide comprising a stock mem ber for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, and line guide means carried by one of said bars and having an edge deformable by movement of a writing instrument to permit scribing of letters below said edge.

3. A writing guide comprising a stock member for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, line guide means carried by one of said bars and having an edge deformable by movement of a writing instrument to permit scribing of letters below said edge, and means for detachably securing together the ends of said bars most re mote from the stock.

4. A Writing guide comprising a stock member for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, line guide means carried by one of said bars and having an edge deformable by movement of a writing instrument to permit scribing of letters below said edge, and snap fastening elements carried by said bars for detachably securing together the ends of said bars most remote from the stock.

5. A writing guide comprising a stock member for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, means for detachably securing together the ends of said bars most remote from the stock, and a strip of rubber secured to one of said bars and projecting laterally therefrom, the free edges of said strip being thinned to render the same easily deformable by a writing instrument to permit scribing beyond the edge of said strip.

6. A writing guide comprising a stock member for engagement with one side of a sheet of paper, a pair of bars fixed to said stock, said bars extending perpendicularly to the stock and spaced apart to receive a sheet of paper between them, means for detachably securing together the ends of said bars most remote from the stock, and a strip of rubber secured to one of said bars and projecting laterally therefrom, the free edges of said strip being thinned to render the same easily deformable by a writing instrument to permit scribing beyond the edge of said strip, said strip having a plurality of transverse slits spaced longitudinally of the edges.

LOUISE MAE I FARROW. 

